There’s too much Internet—with wonders like a tech-free way to keep your New Year’s resolutions—and too little time. That’s why we curate a list of the best of the best (a.k.a. “the Greatist”) things we’ve come across on the Web this week. In other words, it’s the stuff we’d email/gchat/tweet/text you immediately if we were besties. While we’ll never stop striving to bring our readers amazing content on a daily basis, we know not all the best stuff comes from us.
1. Our Liver Vacation: Is a Dry January Really Worth It? [New Scientist]
The quick answer: Yes! And we’re not just saying that because a month of holiday parties and family gatherings pushed our liver the limits. The team at the New Scientist agreed to be guinea pigs in this experiment and the results were astounding. A third of the staff continued drinking socially while the rest went cold turkey. The social drinkers saw no changes in their health over the course of the month while the people who abstained from drinking saw decreases in liver fat, lower blood glucose levels, and even better sleep quality. That’s enough for us to say goodbye to booze—at least for the next 30 days.
2. I Tried Taylor Swift’s Diet and It Was a Joy [The Cut]
We’re suckers for stories about people trying celebrity diets: We need to know what Beyoncé’s master cleanse is really like (spoiler: it’s awful), and we also can’t get enough of Taylor Swift. So this story about giving TSwift’s diet a whirl felt basically tailor-made for us. And just like everything else Taylor does, her diet is syrupy sweet and oh-so pleasant.
3. Why We, the “Foodies,” Don’t Talk About Weight [The Kitchn]
Foodies love to talk about food—everything from its origin to its disease-fighting abilities to its amazing taste. The one discussion that often gets left off the table: dieting. Restricting food seems at odds with the idea of enjoying your meals. Or is it? We’re so glad our friends at The Kitchn have jumpstarted this discussion.
4. Tao Chair Lets You Burn Calories While You Sit [PSFK]
Health and fitness gadgets have been all the rage at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, from the next generation of fashion-forward fitness trackers to smart yoga mats. But the coolest fitness product we’ve seen at CES is actually the Tao Chair. The notion of sitting down and exercising seems almost too good to be true (remember the Hawaii chair?), but you can actually get a serious core workout thanks to the chair’s super strong arms that provide the perfect resistance for simulated pull-ups and leg lifts. And the chair even has sensors to measure the calories you burn. Who’s saying sitting is the new smoking now?
5. Does ‘Healthy Obesity’ Actually Exist? [Science of Us]
Healthy obesity seems like an oxymoron, but it actually exists. Medical professionals use the term to describe people with a BMI in the obese range who don’t show signs of diabetes or elevated levels of cholesterol and blood pressure. New research, however, shows that those considered both healthy and obese today will almost certainly fall in the range of unhealthy and obese down the line.
